this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 49 points 11 months ago (5 children)

If Australian Sushi is cultural appropriation, I'd love to hear this person justify "New York Pizza".

New York Pizza is famous globally and recognised as something different to Italian style Pizza. Is that also cultural appropriation?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Chicago deep dish is another whole crazy thing too.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean, that's just a pan pizza that happens to be square but I'll give it to you as a valid regional variant.

I will also direct you to the wikipedia entry for "California-style Pizza" which contains some wild pictures of potentially illegal pizzas.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

culture is a thing that evolves over time and place, it shouldn't have to be preserved in the "correct" version if the origin is acknowledged.

these things exist outside of western culture too. I'd be surprised if all the types of dumplings weren't derivatives of each other.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (7 children)
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[–] UndercoverUlrikHD 36 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If you ever eat sushi with salmon, that's a Norwegian "invention" that was made to sell more fish Japan. No country "owns" a dish.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I think we can all agree as a society that as far as cultural sensitivity goes, food is off limits. You eat what you want how you want it and no one has the right to stop you. Yes they are allowed to think gross or no way I’d never eat that but there should also be respect for each other as individuals with different preferences. Personally I take the same view with sexuality and kinks, I don’t have to like it and I’m allowed to be grossed out a bit but at the end of the day people do what makes them happy and they’re no less caring, funny or thoughtful than the next person.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)

TIL Australian Sushi is a thing! It never occurred to me that they don’t have the easy to hold rolls in other parts of the world. I think they make up like 10% of my diet haha.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

TIL too... I'm still not sure I understand what non Australian sushi is though. I just figured 'authentic' sushi would be what we have but with higher quality ingredients or potentially cut into slices to be easier to eat with chopsticks

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Sushi more refers to the vinegared rice in the dish. What we have here in Australia is actually made in Japan, but only really popular in certain parts of the country at certain festivals etc. They do make handrolls, but as you suggested, they are cut into pieces.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Absolutely gorgeous article.

I had no idea our sushi rolls and banh mi were so divergent. How long until "Australian Banh Mi" is a thing overseas?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The wonderful thing about food is that it's always changing. People shit on stuff for not being "authentic" but frankly I think it's delightful how different traditions come together to play. Mixing and matching until the local food reflects the available ingredients and preferences of the populous.

I mean I make a mean lemon tofu which is a derivative of lemon chicken which is a derivative of a Cantonese style that was adapted for churning out cheap and appealing food so migrants could work at takeaway stores and get visas.

Food tells a story, wherever you have it and however you have it. Appreciating that is imho the more joyful approach than trying to fix it in time.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

there's a monster flavor "aussie style lemonade" in the states and i have no idea what that means. just tastes like energy drink lemonade to me

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (9 children)

This is nonsense. Burgers are sold in damn near every country. The US is full of Americanized taco places and tex mex restaurants. We have "Chinese food" buffets that stock American versions of Chinese foods. We eat Pad Thai thinking it's a popular Thai dish when really it's just something they thought Americans would like. US has pubs that serve "fish and chips". There are French restaurants, Mongolian restaurants, Afghani restaurants... McDonald's sells spaghetti in Vietnam.

We all eat each other's foods. What is different about Australians having their own version of sushi? This seems entirely unremarkable.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Cultural appropriation is such a strange issue. It's obvious to me that wearing someone's culture as a costume is fucked up... And it's pretty obvious too I think that opening a restaurant selling food from overseas is almost always cultural exchange... I don't really think you can open a restaurant without a solid understanding of the food you're making (quite unlike putting on a headdress and getting hammered on Halloween)... Somewhere in between there's a line, perhaps, but I have absolutely no idea where it is. White people with dreads is in there somewhere, no one seems to agree on it, personally I think it's pretty far removed from its origins and is basically a white hippy thing in it's own right, regardless of how it began, but I know a lot of people disagree.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

As a mexican, I dont mind people dressing as mexican for carneval, or making variations of mexican food, as long as they aren't anti mexican, and I think that's where the line is drawn. A culture dont get to "steal" other culture things and also not want them living with them.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It's obvious to me that wearing someone's culture as a costume is fucked up

Why is it fucked up?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I've heard people claim cultural appropriation over this or that, but I'm not convinced it's a real thing, and not just people being offended on behalf of someone else.

That's not to say that cultures don't get appropriated, but is that a bad thing? White people rocking dreadlocks, cool. Black people sporting a kimono, nice. Asian people with Klan robes, what.

We live in a culturally interconnected global community now, no group has ownership over aesthetics.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Cultural Appropriation is real, but it usually refers to entire nations or massive artists or corporations adopting a caricature of smaller cultures, to the extent that people start associating it with that nation or artist rather than the culture. An example here is Picasso using African imagery, or pop stars copying underground music genres and effectively killing them off.

The problem is that people use it to talk about regular people starting a Sushi restaurant or whatever. They do not have the power to do this sort of thing.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's not to say that cultures don't get appropriated, but is that a bad thing? White people rocking dreadlocks, cool. Black people sporting a kimono, nice. Asian people with Klan robes, what.

♬ One of these things is not like the other ~ One of these things is actually bad ♬

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I find it hard to not be a sarcastic asshole sometimes lol.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Australian sarcasm translates worse online than it does IRL

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

While there are people who are too trigger happy with the term, and a sizable gray area between cultural exchange and cultural appropriation, I do think there are cases where people cross over into objectionable cultural appropriation.

A really good example was when white American college students wore fake native American headwear with significant cultural and spiritual importance as decoration for drunken parties. I can definitely sympathize with native Americans not wanting their culture treated with disrespect.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Why is the knife upside down?

...

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago

Because it's an Australian knife, duh 🙃

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The way people use words online is so debate brained. Cultural appropriation isn’t inherently bad. It’s just a thing that exists and holds connotations about an imbalance of exchange. Is aussie style sushi not still considered Japanese food? Like, we have california rolls, but no one says they’re eating Californian food while eating sushi.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Is aussie style sushi not still considered Japanese food?

To an Australian, probably. To a Japanese person in Japan? Probably not.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Egh, I could live with that...

I just wanna eat my Philadelphia rolls with Norwegian salmon in peace.... plus, I don't think cultural appropriation, in this context, is necessarily malicious or so, now that I've read the article...

grillman

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

so it's square sushi?

well I guess it's better than bread with sprinkles on it

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

No. That photo misses the whole point. The article is talking about these, which are common in Australia. You normally buy 3-4 of them and that's a quick lunch on the go.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think it's 2.50/half roll (they all say h/roll) but that's still pretty rad, at least in USD not sure about AUD

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

those where the days

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

dude that's just sushi

this is the biggest reach I've seen since...well a bunch of mayo criminals reached australia

this entire thing just feels like settlers being butthurt that they a) have none of the history/tradition of the old world and b) unlike america, don't even have any recently found pop culture relevance to offset the former

There's plenty of Aboriginal and even some trivial white Australian culture, claiming a certain shape of sushi is not that (not even Americans do this, and the few that do "Detroit pizza" are rightfully made fun of and bullied)

Australian sushi is a thick hand roll made from half a standard sheet of nori. Its shape is distinct from Japanese temaki hand rolls, which are often cone-shaped, as well as from futomaki thick rolls, which are similar in shape but usually served sliced.

so it's literally just unsliced sushi lol. It's not even like some characteristic ingredient, like with California Rolls and Philadelphia rolls using avocado/cream cheese (which are def not Japanese)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Its also very clearly Japanese immigrants modifying their home dishes with local ingredients. Its Japanese-Australian food, not Australian food.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Chicken Tikka Masala is BRI ISH

in 500 years of colonial trade, NOBODY in the entire Indian subcontinent has EVER put tomatoes into a Chicken curry! NEVER!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

dude that's just sushi

And that's literally what we call it (or "hand rolls"). Until this article, I've never seen the term "Australian Sushi". I can see how you'd market it that way in New York though, to make them novel/stand out.

The guy writing the article is moderately famous in Australia as a Japanese-Australian TV personality.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

fwiw Adam Liaw has Malaysian-Chinese heritage not Japanese

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

there's a type of brainworm unique to many anglos where they have to be as special and different as possible when there's LITERALLY NOTHING THERE

"hmmm.....I could try learning about or even promoting idk one of the cultures of Africa or India or China (or indigenous Australian, American etc cultures) with thousands of years of tradition that literally nobody outside of those continents even knows exists, but nah I'm going to take sushi and call it Australian because I'm a special snowflake and I'm jealous that the other anglo settlers across the pacific have more clout "

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

don't even have any recently found pop culture relevance to offset the former

Alas we failed to import sufficient numbers of slaves to steal culture off

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sounds delightful! Sounds like we need some Australian Sushi in my neck of the woods!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Wait till they hear about mexican sushi

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Either way, the Japanese deserve to have their culture appropriated so this is great.

I choose to believe, despite having read the article, that Australian sushi is just a bunch of still-living extremely poisonous animals served alongside a beer.

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